“Why cater to that segment?”
Well, you don’t have to cater to them, but you shouldn’t be surprised if they want to preserve their way of life and resist someone coming in and imposing that change on them.
“Yes, I know the rents go up. But as the area gets ‘trendy’, aren’t there new restaurants opening up with job potential?”
Restaurants, and even retail stores offer only a few jobs, with little earning potential, while gentrification raises the expenses for everyone in the neighborhood. So, it’s not exactly an equal offset.
“And, they don’t just double the rent on a crappy apartment without improving it, do they?”
Not necessarily double, but yes, even an unimproved apartment will see a larger raise in rent than usual, because the prices are based on what the market will bear. Smart landlords will remodel as well, to maximize what they can squeeze out of the market, but even the ones that do no improvements will charge whatever they can, since they are going to have to pay the higher taxes as well.
“There may be some painting, carpet laying, sheet rock hanging, etc. type jobs to be had.”
Most landlords already have dedicated contractors to do that stuff, but they might have to hire a few more for big jobs. Still, the same applies to the idea about restaurants, there will be a few more jobs that will help a few people, while the entire neighborhood must bear a higher expense. These are residential neighborhoods, and the majority of people living in those neighborhoods will never work within the boundaries of the neighborhood. It’s just not where most of the jobs are located.
“you shouldn’t be surprised if they want to preserve their way of life”
Actually I am always quite surprised and perplexed when somebody wants to preserve an impoverished way of life.
How come gentrification only applies when whites move into a poor black neighborhood. What if I own a rental in an all white middle class neighborhood, and I decide to really spruce it up. Next thing you know, I’m charging more rent and I’ve self-gentrified my own property....forcing some renters to leave due to higher rents.
What is different about that? Am I harming my middle class white community by sprucing up my building? If the answer is yes, improving a property is somehow ‘bad’, we should let real estate rot, right?
If the answer is no...then gentrification complaints are really just a disguise for black on white racism, aren’t they?